


'Tis The Damn Season

by natalie_ana



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Dorothea - Freeform, F/M, Modern AU, honestly a whole lot of fluff, jily, lily and james reuniting after ten years apart, lily is famous au, tis the damn season, you will find references to taylor swift songs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:27:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29839437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalie_ana/pseuds/natalie_ana
Summary: James Potter and Lily Evans bump into each other in their hometown after ten years apart. Modern!AU. Famous!AU.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 38
Kudos: 74





	1. Right Where You Left Me

Belbury Square was as busy as it always was leading up to Christmas. People rushed about bundled up in coats and scarves and beanies with a half dozen shopping bags hanging off their hands. Mothers herding children back to the car, young couples taking photos in front of the large Christmas tree the council set up every year in the same spot, and Christmas music playing out of the speakers. It was completely idyllic and picturesque and when she showed her American friends photos, they always asked if she was being serious.

She hadn’t been home in a while. Usually it was easier for her parents to come to her but she’d needed the break this time so she’d insisted. It was an added plus that her sister had decided to spend Christmas at some ski resort in Switzerland though her security team thought she was mad and maybe she was but she had needed home even if it was just for a weekend. It was nice to feel normal every once in a while.

Apart from her parents, Lily really hadn’t expected to see anyone in Belbury, at least not anyone she hadn’t expected to see in Belbury. Yet here she was coming to a slow stop in front of a man who she hadn’t seen since she was eighteen with grocery bags in her hands and-

“Hi,” was all that managed to come out of her mouth and honestly more fog than volume came out of it. She couldn’t even tell if he’d heard her because he just stood there as though he weren’t sure his eyes were working.

She’d never imagined, not in a million years, that she’d see him again. Maybe Belbury really was as small as she remembered. In a way, it felt like they’d found each other right where they had left each other and her stomach flipped when his eyes skimmed up and down her body, his smile tugging up in a smile.

He looked good. Grown up. Stubble on his chin, a few lines around his eyes, a small scar just above his left eyebrow that hadn’t been there before. She was sure there was an entertaining story behind it, there always had been with James. He’d aged like wine and she wondered if he had a girlfriend or a wife and immediately chastised herself for it.

“Hi back,” he said, his eyes — god were they always so mesmerising? — staring right into hers. He shoved his hands into his navy parka. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“I’m, uh, I’m visiting my parents for the weekend.” She let that sit for a moment.

“Not staying for Christmas?” he asked and she shook her head.

“I’ve gotta be in LA in a few days,” she explained and she hesitated and then, “my mum told me about your parents — James, I’m so sorry. I really wish I could have made it for the funeral.”

He looked at the ground for a moment, it had to have been over a year ago when his parents had passed but it must still sting. He’d always been close with his parents and they were the best kind of parents. Warm and always welcoming. James’ house had always been the go-to for their high-school gatherings.

“I know. I got your note and, uh, your flowers. You remembered mum’s favourites.”

Her stomach hopped at the thought that he’d bothered to remember the flowers and note she’d sent.

“Carnations. How could I ever forget? Mum also mentioned you’d moved to London after uni.”

“Yeah,” he said, glad for the topic change, “after Oxford it seemed the next right thing to do. Sirius and I’ve got a dodgy apartment and everything.”

“God, Sirius Black. That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. How’s he doing?”

“He’s good — great actually. He owns no less than four bars across London — well co-owns with our mate Remus who we met at Oxford.”

“Of course Sirius would get Oxford educated only to open a chain of bars.”

“It’s worked out pretty well for him. He’s looking into starting his own liquor line now but you’ve got to keep that mum.”

“Who would I tell?” Lily scoffed. “These days I’m mostly holed up in my apartment alone.”

An unfortunately true fact. In America where she was now based most of the year, the paparazzi dogged her everywhere she went. Staying in felt simpler and easier most of the time.

“That doesn’t sound like the Lily Evans I remember.”

Lily smiled softly. “Maybe I’m not her anymore.”

“Nah,” James smiled back at her, “you’re still that same old soul who’d meet me under the bleachers when we were supposed to be in modern foreign languages.”

A thousand memories flashed across her mind.

“My god, that feels like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?”

“Ten years,” James tilted his head. “You really haven’t changed a bit, Evans. Even if you do have millions of followers on Instagram now.”

“Keeping up to date with me?”

“Of course I am. You’re the only famous person I’ve ever shagged.”

Lily nudged him with her hand as she fended off a smile.

“You know, a few weeks back my co-workers dragged me to see your new movie.”

Lily blushed a little though she didn’t know why. It wasn’t even like this movie had any _explicit_ scenes. It was an action movie and sure she had a minor love interest but it didn’t go any further than a few kisses. She knew that people watched her films but perhaps it took her off guard to know that _he’d_ watched her films.

“It was really good, though I have to say, and you’re brilliant of course, but the blonde — not a good look.”

“Oh, you think so?”

“Mmhmm, I was honestly so concerned I had to google if you’d dyed your hair halfway through the movie. You can only imagine my relief when I read on e!News that it was a wig.”

“You did not.”

“I totally did. Sirius busted me and gave me shit endlessly for days.”

“Now I know you’re lying. You’d never be so stupid to google something like that in front of him.”

“I didn’t. He went on my phone to search something and I’d failed to clear the search so it opened up right to the article I’d read about you.”

She bit her lips softly as she shook her head. It was classic James really. Classic Sirius too. God it had been an age since she’d seen anyone from her old high-school. They’d been such a close knit group of friends. Her, James, Sirius, Augustine Miller, Mary MacDonald, Betty Bowery, Marjorie Harkness, and William Bernard. Lily had lost contact with all of them after her move to LA. James because it had been too hard after they’d agreed to break up and the rest was just gradual, time chipping away at the things they used to have in common.

“You, uh, you mentioned co-workers so I assume you have a job?”

“No, actually, I just latched onto a random group of people in the line at the cinemas,” James joked. “I’m at an IT firm — Kivera — we develop software.”

“You always were a nerd for computers,” she teased.

“I was not!”

“You once stood me up to play some game with ‘the boys’.”

“Ok, it does not count as stood up when I gave you ample notice that I was cancelling our plans.”

“That doesn’t make it better!”

He chuckled softly. “Told you, Evans, exactly the same.”

She rolled her eyes but with a smile because she was starting to believe him because it was starting to feel just the same as it did ten years ago. In fact, it felt as though no time had passed at all and standing here opposite him, she realised all at once that she’d missed him all these years.

Her phone blared out its obnoxious ringtone and she shifted her shopping bags as she reached into her pocket to fish it out.

“Ah, it’s mum. Probably wondering if I’ve died on my quest to buy bread and drinks.”

A tinge of guilt clipped at her as she realised her mum probably thought she’d gotten mobbed or something.

“I, ah, should probably get going too,” James said and Lily’s smile fell ever so slightly. “It was real good to see you, Evans.”

She wanted to shout ‘don’t go’. Wanted to tell him he should come by for lunch. Wanted to say they should catch up some time. Wanted to drag him to the bleachers and pretend they were seventeen again. But instead she said, “You too,” and she watched as he waved with a soft smile and began to take steps away from her.

“James! Wait!”

She rushed up to him again and, “this is probably proper out of line and feel free to tell me to shut up at any point but if you’re miraculously not seeing anyone, I’m, uh, I’m staying at my parents house — you remember where it is?”

“How could I forget?” he asked with a smile.

“Right. Well, if you want to catch up … you know where I am.”

With one last burning gaze and a soft smile, Lily brushed passed him and told herself not to look back, so, of course, she looked back.

And he was looking at her, too.


	2. You Know You'll Always Know Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Lily catch up on the last ten years AKA all the fluff

Her window rattled as a small pebble hit against it. Then another. Her heart racing — her mind thinking of the worse — she carefully crawled to her window. If the paps really had found her she would not give them the satisfaction of catching a photo of her through the window. Some rational part of her mildly considered the fact that paparazzi wouldn’t be throwing pebbles at her window but she ignored that because, at this point, she wouldn’t even be surprised.

She peeped over the window sill and sighed in relief and then flushed furiously. She ducked under the window seal, leaning against the wall, taking a moment to compose herself. Her heart raced at a million miles an hour because there wasn’t a hoard of men outside her house. There was only one man. James Potter. And it was giving her all sorts of feelings that she was not at all prepared for.

She suddenly felt giddy and like, well, like a teenager. She realised the feeling wasn’t dissimilar to how she felt when he’d asked her out after he’d fallen into the pond — he would argue that she pushed him but that was semantics. She rose a bit, pushing aside the white sheer curtain and opened the window, leaning out — sure she’d catch her death wearing nothing but a thin cotton pyjama top and flannel pyjama pants — the cold biting at her face and bare arms.

“You know, there’s this amazing thing called a front door,” she called out, radiating a perception of cool that she certainly wasn’t feeling right now.

“Yeah but that’s no fun. Come on, Evans,” he waved his arm in an exaggerated fashion.

Like no time had passed at all, she mused to herself. He, at least, was properly dressed for the cold in sweat pants, sneakers, and a parka.

She bit her smile and shook her head. “Give me three minutes.”

“Always making me wait,” he jokingly huffed.

She ducked back into her room and pulled on her thickest wool cardigan — the one she lived in during the winter months — and her ugg boots, making sure to tuck her pant hems into her uggs. She quickly checked her hair, running her fingers through the roots to smooth them out, shoved her phone and card holder into her pocket and then opened her window as far as it would go. She stepped out onto the small roof that overhung under her window and then closed her window with just enough gap for her to be able to slide her fingers under to open it again.

She glanced to the side where the trellis led down and grimaced. She really hoped it was as strong as it’d been ten years ago. She could imagine the headlines if she managed to break her back climbing down the front of her house to meet her ex-boyfriend at half-past eleven in the evening. Falling wasn’t an option so she carefully climbed down, making sure to have a firm grip before she took her next step but, in a way, it was like riding a bike.

She jumped down the last few feet, her uggs squelching in the runny snowed on grass and she turned to face an amused James.

“I never get tired of seeing you do that,” he commented.

It was probably strange that she felt the urge to kiss him and she wrote it down to muscle memory. She would usually kiss him when he came to sneak her out but they weren’t seventeen anymore and kissing him probably wasn’t a good idea.

“Let’s get out of here before we wake my parents up.”

They got into James’ car — a nice one, she noticed, an expensive one — and Lily immediately put her hands to the heater, praising that he had the good sense to leave the car running with the heat blowing.

“Do they still get unreasonably cold for absolutely no reason?” He gestured to her hands.

“Look, just because you’ve grown a heater inside your body doesn’t mean you get to pick on me and my eternal coldness. Also, it is literally the middle of winter and I climbed down a near frozen wall. I’m allowed to be cold.”

She glanced over just in time to see the small smile on his face. He’d said she hadn’t changed, but he hadn’t either. Not really. He still had the same grin and cheek that she’d always found so irresistible. The same sure voice that had never failed to steady her when she needed it. The same wild curls on his head that always made her want to run her fingers through it. He was just so unequivocally _James_.

“So, where to, miss?”

“To the stars,” she replied dramatically and his grin popped out again as they both remembered the distant memory of her forcing him to watch _The Titanic_ because it was a travesty he hadn’t already. She had quoted the entire movie back at him and he’d said, “you’d have made a better Rose.”

She, of course, had responded cheerily with, “only if you’d been my Jack.”

Once their car was parked in their old spot by the old church, they opened the bag of MacDonald’s they’d stopped for and started pulling out the food. They ate as they talked TV shows and music and other small talk until they began a long winded spiral on which Marvel movies were their favourite and if they’d seen the latest _Spiderman_.

“I’d die for a Marvel deal,” she sighed wistfully.

“You’d have made an excellent Scarlett Witch.”

“Funny. That’s what my agent said though Marvel thought differently, I suppose.”

They went on a spill about her auditioning for Scarlett Witch when James asked, “what’s being famous like?” and what a loaded question that was.

She laughed, ran her hand through her hair and took a sip of her drink. “Oh well, fantastic except for the parts that aren’t.”

“Tell me about it,” he requested so simply.

“I’m sure you don’t want to hear about the woes of celebrity life. They probably sound conceited and ridiculous as well as a little narcissistic.”

“Three words I’ve never associated with you. Tell me about it,” he insisted.

“Well, the job is fun — you know getting to act and lately I’ve even helped produce a few movies and there’s a project coming up that I’m super excited about — it’s why I’ve got to get back to LA.”

“You always were a nerd for drama class.”

She threw a chip at him. “You thrived in drama class too, don’t deny it.”

“I only picked that class because you were in it.” He paused. “So was it everything you ever dreamed?”

“In some ways. Not in others.” It was her turn to pause now. To compose how she wanted to say it because it was hard to talk about without feeling ungrateful for her success.

“I love the characters I get to play and now that I’ve surpassed the rom-com stage-”

“Yes, winning Actress of the Year would do that,” James commented with his proud grin.

Lily smiled guiltily and ignored his comment, “not that I don’t love a good rom-com but I’m starting to get more serious movies and roles and it’s exhilarating and hard and magical all at once. And meeting the fans is amazing — though I’m glad you didn’t become an actor. It all would’ve gone straight to your already inflated head,” she teased and he threw a chip at her.

“I love my job,” she stated.

“But…?” James prodded.

“The media is a fucking nightmare,” she finally blurted out. “One second they love me, the next they hate me, and the paparazzi are everywhere — honestly, when I heard the pebbles hitting my window I thought I’d been found. And it’s all the pressure to be perfect all the bloody time. I can’t say anything controversial at all and if I say one wrong thing I’m suddenly problematic and on the verge of being cancelled. Honestly, sometimes it’s so bad that I refuse to use my phone for days at a time. I just let it die which makes people think that I’ve died.” She raked another hand through her hair.

“Then there’s the whole only being referred to as someone’s something!” she exclaimed indignantly. “I could go on and on about that because it just sucks, you know? To only be known for who you know. It gets,” she breathed out a little, suddenly realising just how open and vulnerable she was being during her little rant. She’d really only ever said all this to her mum and Marlene and it was slightly disconcerting that ranting to James about her problems still felt so natural.

“What?” he asked gently.

“Lonely,” she finished in a small voice. “It gets lonely.”

He slipped his hand into hers easily, naturally, as though it were nothing at all and squeezed it tightly, just like he used to when she was anxious over exams or riled up about her sister.

“If you ever get tired of all that, you know you always know me,” he told her and it was an utterly ridiculous thing for him to say after not having seen each other in a decade but damn it if it wasn’t, by some miraculous happenstance, exactly what she needed to hear. She’d forgotten how good he was at that. Saying something she didn’t even know she needed and it became everything she held onto.

She wondered a lot over the years how her life would have turned out if she’d taken the ‘Petunia Path’ in life. If she’d stayed in England, gone to uni, gotten a normal job, gotten married, maybe had a kid by now. She always imagined James by her side because she hardly remembered ever being sad when she was with James. And they hadn’t _wanted_ to break up. Their break up was bittersweet and letting each other go because they loved each other. If she’d taken the ‘Petunia Path’ in life, she knew they’d still be together. He was the only one she would even want to take the ‘Petunia Path’ with.

“What are you thinking about?” James asked her, interrupting her thoughts.

She turned to smile at him. “I’m thinking that I hardly know anything about what you’ve been doing the last ten years and I feel I’m at an unfair disadvantage.”

“Is that so?”

“Uh-huh. You’ve seen my whole life splashed out in magazines and TV interviews and social media meanwhile I’ve only ever gotten a few tidbits from mum over the years.”

“Stalking me through your mother, how scandalous!” he gasped dramatically. “And who says I’ve been keeping up with your life in magazines?”

Lily shrugged. “You’re the one who admitted to googling if I’d dyed my hair and, I may have searched you on Instagram once or twice so I know you follow my account.”

“I think fame has gotten to your head. I never would have thought it possible.”

She blushed furiously and nudged him with her hand but he was laughing at her.

“I was curious and I still am. What have you been up to since school?”

“Well, Sirius and I went to Oxford as you know. I studied software engineering and after university I worked for a bit with this smaller cloud services company until I got an idea.”

“Uh-oh,” Lily said knowingly and James grinned sheepishly as he ruffled his hair.

“Yeah, I know so I worked on it as a hobby for a bit and when it worked, I started a company and roped some of my colleagues and an old uni mate into it too and it,” he ruffled his hair, “it took off, I guess.”

“You — you own your own company?” Lily almost shrieked at the news, a well of pride swelling up in her for him. “Oh my God! That is brilliant! I can’t believe you had me believing you were just a regular old employee — not that there’s anything bad about working for someone else but,” Lily looked at him breathlessly. “That’s amazing! I always knew you were brilliant. Tell me all about it!”

And he did. He explained how he got the idea and how it was a solo project mostly that he worked on in his own time because he didn’t want his company to try to take credit for the idea if they got wind of it. He told her how it took a year for him to decide and when he did, he just did it. He quit his job, registered a business, rented a tiny, overpriced office space in London, bought top notch equipment, and then started going on a recruitment hunt ignoring everyone who told him he was too young at twenty-five to start his own business.

“I used up most of my trust fund to star it and my parents were anxious about it,” he admitted. “But we started out with four people. Myself, my mate Peter from university, and two of my colleagues from work, Angie and Phillip. It was slow at first, you know breaking the market is always tough but once we cracked a big company, the rest fell in line and we expanded faster than we could keep up with — still are.”

“That’s amazing, James,” Lily squeezed his hand.

“Since we started out three years ago, we’ve upgraded offices twice and I never could have imagined back then that it’d have grown to what it is but,” he shrugged, “here I am. In charge of almost two hundred employees. Best investment I’ve ever made.”

Lily’s eyes bulged. “Two hundred?”

“You say that like you don’t have millions of fans.”

“That’s different!”

He laughed lightly at her amazement because it seemed impossible that his achievements could ever measure up to hers.

“Okay, Miss-Actress-Of-The-Year at the Oscars last year,” he retorted.

“I just act out other people’s brilliance but you, starting a company, that’s all you,” she gushed and he ruffled his hair again and was he blushing? “It’s brilliant!”

“You’re brilliant,” he shot back.

She rolled her eyes but she was smiling widely and patting him on the arm, urging him to tell her more.

“Our office in London is the main office — headquarters if you will — but we just opened a smaller office in Glasgow three months ago. I want to go global. By mid-next year I’ll have an office in France and then I’ll be looking to crack America, Japan, Australia, Singapore — haven’t decided which first yet but it’ll come all together the way it’s meant to.”

“That’s really something, James. Really, really something. The people you started with, your friends, are they still with you?”

“Oh absolutely. Angie is head of Product Development now, Phillip heads Operations, and Peter, he’s not suited for a leadership role but he’s a gun on the keyboard. The company never would have gotten to where it is now without them and honestly, if any of them ever left I’d be devastated not to mention completely lost without them.”

“I’m really happy for you. It sounds amazing what you’re doing.”

“You should come by the office one day,” he teased. “Maybe my employees will start to think I’m cool if I have proof I know _the_ Lily Evans — Britain’s Sweetheart.”

Lily flushed furiously at the compliment. “Maybe I can be the surprise guest at your next company event.”

“Or my date.”

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” she laughed lightly.

“Yeah, yeah I would,” he said quietly, sincerely, almost like a wish and Lily had to look away or else she would lean in and kiss him. It was the look he’d given her. Like he could see every inch of her, inside and out.

“So what else?” Lily asked, trying to move passed this moment because she didn’t know what they were doing but she knew she wanted it to last. “You mentioned Sirius Black earlier. You and him still tight as ever then? Well, of course you are,” Lily answered her own question because it was preposterous she even asked. Of course they were still tight as ever. Sirius Black and James Potter were like twins. You could hardly imagine one without the other.“How’s he then?”

“As mad as ever,” James mused. “He put his business degree and his uncle’s inheritance to good use straight out of uni. Opened his first bar in London with Remus and because it was Sirius it was a huge hit.”

“Of course it was,” Lily smiled.

“They’re stellar as a team — networking comes like second nature to Sirius and he’s got the vision but Remus is the one who makes it happen. It’s actually quite popular with local celebrities and anyway, now I’m just starting to sound like Sirius when he gets on his bragging horse. Basically, they did well enough with the first one that they opened another three bars around London and a five-star restaurant in Camden and now he wants to move into alcohol — Remus is a bit hesitant, different ball game and all that. But he wants to start a gin label that’ll be exclusive at a new, hole in the wall gin bar that’ll be super exclusive and posh — I think he wants it to have like a speak easy vibe — but it’s all just talk for the moment. There’s a lot of logistics to figure out there before it sets in motion.”

Lily’s grin got wider as James told her all this and all she could say was, “something tells me you were underselling the ‘dodgy’ apartment you and Sirius are living in earlier?”

James laughed, tossing his head back and he put his arms up in surrender. “You caught me. We live in a penthouse in Westminster.”

Lily whistled, “doesn’t sound dodgy at all.”

“Oh no, it is perfectly pretentious, I assure you. Sirius even buys ridiculously expensive art to hang on the walls.”

“The horror! And let me guess you’ve got framed signed football jerseys hanging off the walls.”

He smirked. “No less than nine,” he told her and she laughed prettily because of course he did.

“All Manchester United I suppose except for the Chelsea one because of Jimmy Greaves. I remember,” she tapped her temple at his shocked expression that she did remember his weird love affair with this one player from before their time who had never even played for his team.

“Naturally,” James finally said in agreement. “What about you? What’s your New York penthouse filled with?”

“Ah, so you _have_ been keeping up with me!”

“I bet — well I read somewhere that you’ve got ten whole bedrooms and who knows what else but I’m willing to bet there’s a library.”

“Guilty. I had to buy books I’ll probably never even get around to reading just to fill it up.”

“And I also wager there are plants. Lots and lots of plants.”

“You’re going two for two, Potter,” Lily praised. “Any other bets?”

He turned to face her better and considered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “You’ve got a cheesy photo wall somewhere.”

She buried her face in her hands as she laughed and blushed and grinned because she did have a cheesy photo wall in her living room — in fact she had a cheesy photo wall in every house she owned.

“And the prize goes to Mr James Potter, ladies and gentleman!”

He whooped, clapping his hands loudly and she cheered him on too before they both dissolved into laughter.

“I can’t believe you called me out on my cheesy photo wall like that.”

“I’ll stop teasing you about it when I feature on it,” he told her.

“Oh, ‘when’ huh?” she leaned closer to him, setting her elbow on the console and her chin on her hand. “That’s awfully presumptuous.”

“Says the one who wondered straight up if I was still single.”

“I was curious.”

“I bet.” He leaned his own elbow on the centre console, mirroring her position so their faces were inches apart and his eyes flickered to her lips, searching her face and god she just wanted to close the gap between them. But she shouldn’t. She was going back to LA in a few days and… Her thoughts died as he tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. She was really running out of reasons not to just go for it.

She eyed his lips for a moment before clearing her throat and leaning back a little, but he swiftly caught her hand in his and said “do you remember when,” effectively kick-starting a round of reminiscing over old memories and the good old days from their high school years. The stuff they used to gossip about when they snuck out to their spot in the middle of the night. 

He reminded her of the disaster that was the end of year school dance in their final year and she reminded him of how happy he was when their team had won the football league. They talked about all the times Sirius would derail Mrs Gilbert’s English class with philosophical questions and that week where the whole group had played a never-ending game of tag until Sirius had tackled James and they’d gotten two weeks worth of detentions. 

“Oh, what about Mr Helman?” James asked. “What was your saying about him? ‘The Man from Hell’?” 

“Oh, do not even remind me about him,” Lily seethed. “He was the worst maths teacher to ever grace Britain. You were a better teacher than him, honestly.” 

“That’s because I’m better than everyone at everything.” 

“I see your confidence never took a dip.” 

“You wound me.” 

They talked about their school trip to London and how they’d snuck out of the hotel at night and roamed London alone – talked about how that was how they knew they wanted to live in London someday. They laughed at the stupid fights they used to have and how James would always serenade Lily to force a smile out of her when she was cross with him – it always worked. 

“Oh my god, do you remember the love triangle between Betty, the other James, and Auggie?” Lily laughed, remembering the biggest relationship drama to ever grace Belbury High School. 

“Yes! But did you know Betty and the other James are married now?” 

“No way! Shut up!” Lily’s mouth dropped. “I still can’t believe she even took him back. She switched homerooms just to avoid him and do you remember that party?” 

“Remember it? Sirius still has it on video.” 

“I can’t believe they’re still together!” 

“They’ve got a kid on the way and everything,” James confirmed. “Here, I’ve got her on Instagram.” He unlocked his phone for her and navigated to Betty’s Instagram before handing her his phone. 

Lily scrolled through the photos that Betty had posted of dinners with friends, of her and the other James on date nights, of her pregnancy announcement, of her wedding day. It was a whole life and Lily looked at the glimpses in longing, wishing she could have her career and the simple, carefree life that she craved. 

“Wow, they look so happy,” Lily mused. “It’s sweet. Poor Auggie though. She used to have it so bad for him.” 

“According to Mary, Auggie’s found herself a lady. A woman named Clementine, I believe.” 

Lily snorted because Augustine and Clementine. They matched. 

“Well, I didn’t see that coming but good for her! And wait, you still talk to Mary?!” Lily all but screeched. She hadn’t seen Mary in years. 

They had attempted to stay in contact after Lily had done her big move to Hollywood but it had been hard and after two years, their friendship faded as they both got busy what with Lily’s career picking up and Mary relocating to Edinburgh for university. 

“Yeah! Well, we lost touch for a bit during uni but she and Sirius got back in touch after they bumped into each other at one of Sirius’ bars – she lives in London now — and we’ve all kept in touch since. I think they had a thing for a few months but it was just casual. Sirius didn’t explicitly mention it in any case and Mary’s been with her boyfriend for well over a year now – Reggie, great bloke for Mary really.” 

Lily pulled a face at the idea of Sirius and Mary – her old best friend – having sex, casual or otherwise. It wasn’t a mental image she wanted to have of them.

“So is Sirius still a flirt then?” Lily asked. 

“Absolutely. New bird every other week.” 

“And what about you? Successful CEO, handsome as hell, charming. Women must throw themselves at you.” 

“Says the woman who’s probably on every bloke’s cheat list.” 

“Their what?” Lily laughed. 

“Their cheat list,” he repeated. “Couples make fantasy lists of people, often celebrities, who they’d get a free pass on.” 

“That’s absurd.” 

He shrugged. “You’d be the first one on my list. You know, if I had a girlfriend.” 

And now she was blushing again, which was an absurdity in itself, because like he’d suggested, she was no stranger to male attention. It came with her job and she’d gotten good at fending off unwanted attention, besides, the men that fawned after her didn’t want her. They wanted _Lily Evans: Britain’s Sweetheart_. They didn’t want the Lily who had cheesy photo walls and would prefer to read a book than go out partying. 

It was different with James though and she couldn’t pin point why. Any long held feelings for him had disappeared over the last ten years but he seemed to be unravelling everything inside of her. It was unnerving how quickly he could make her feel like this again but then again, he always had that uncanny ability – it was her mistake for thinking ten years would ebb away at it. She always had been a fluttering mess around him. 

And the idea of James having a girlfriend made her stomach wring and snarl which was nonsensical because Lily was decidedly not a jealous person. She never had been. Petunia had taken all the jealousy genes in their family and Lily had never, not once, been jealous of anyone. Except James’ hypothetical girlfriend that he didn’t even have. She wanted to push this girlfriend off a cliff and tell James that he should be with her. The violence was a shock too. 

“I’m pretty sure you’re on Mary’s list too,” James joked and she smiled softly. 

“Mary I could get on board with,” Lily winked and she loved hearing him laugh. 

She missed those days. Everything always seemed so simple and she remembered them all too well. She missed how Mary and her would collude and call themselves the ‘inner inner circle’ because they were best friends and best friends kept their secrets form the rest of the group. She remembered James’ huge mischievous grin when he had a good prank up his sleeve with Sirius. She remembered Betty’s yearly birthday bashes. She remembered Marjorie’s love affair with dying her hair. She remembered the weekly girls study group but really they gossiped more than they studied. She remembered the guys crashing her and Mary’s sleepovers. She remembered summer days in Augustine’s backyard because she was the only one with a pool. 

“I’ve missed this,” Lily told him. “Talking with you.”

“Me too,” he said softly. “I’ve thought about you a lot over the years. I mean, bloody hard not to with your face popping up everywhere, but, I think about you a lot.”

She hummed. “It was real between us back then, wasn’t it?”

Their eyes locked on each other’s and she didn’t dare look away.

“We were in love,” he said simply.

And they really had been. They’d been epically in love in the insurmountable way teenagers fell in love when they met their soulmates so young. Stars shone in her eyes for him and she was his world and there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t have done for each other. They’d been in love.

“Do you ever think I should have stayed in England?” Lily asked.

“Absolutely not,” he said confidently, playing with her fingers, and then he faltered for a moment. “I won’t pretend I didn’t want you to stay but I think we both made the right decisions at the time. I mean, look where both of us are now.”

“A celebrity and a CEO. Not too shabby for two kids out of Belbury. Sometimes I think about what would’ve happened if I’d stayed. I’d have gone to Oxford with you and Sirius. I probably would have tossed up on studying English literature or law but I think law would have won me over.”

“You did love the drama of a good legal thriller,” James comment.

“I’m dying to play in one one day,” she informed him.

“I’m not surprised.”

“We’d have been _that_ couple in Oxford,” Lily returned them to their earlier chain of thought. “We’d have stayed together and we’d have taken trips to the Lakes and we’d come home together for the holidays. We’d have graduated together and we would’ve gotten a dodgy flat in London together as we applied for jobs and started our life. We’d have travelled too. Backpacked through Australia. When we got married-”

Her next words were cut off by his lips on hers and they were sweet and soft and demanding and needy all at once and she sunk into it. And she really shouldn’t have. She was leaving in only two days and could they really say goodbye again? Could this really be just a weekend fling? But she couldn’t pull away. Couldn’t tell him no. Because no matter how many guys she’d kissed over the years, they had never felt so much like home as James did.

Her hand reached up to his neck to hold him in place, pull him closer, to just touch some part of him. He pulled away distractedly only for one of his hands to disappear and she laughed as his seat slowly hummed backwards but it didn’t last long when he pulled her over the console and onto his lap and it really was like no time had passed at all.

He undid the buttons on her cardigan and slid his hands up her shirt as she kissed his face and ran her hands through his hair — god, she’d missed that hair of his. His hands were like magic against her skin and every touch had her wanting more. His hands slid across her legs and she moaned as he kissed down her neck, biting and sucking in all the right places.

It wasn’t fair that it still felt like this after so many years and it frightened her because she knew she’d never feel like this with anyone else ever because, in this moment she knew, it was James. James was her one. He had been since she was seventeen and it scared her because what if they’d missed their chance? But she couldn’t think about all of this when he was peeling off her cardigan and kissing her as though he never wanted to stop.

It was clumsy and they laughed a lot as they tried to undress each other in the position they were in until Lily dragged them to the backseat where they at least had a little more room and she could finally kick off her flannel pyjama pants and he shedded his own clothes until they were both naked in the backseat of his car in their old spot by the church.

“Jesus, I’ve missed this,” he breathed as she lay on top of him with his parka spread over the top of her so they wouldn’t completely freeze their butts off and neither ever wanted to move and Lily decided: she never wanted another day without James Potter in it. And maybe the intensity of that scared her but she was through with caring.

“So tell me,” he said, “what would’ve happened after we got married?”

She grinned. “Well, we would’ve moved to a three story townhouse in London and I think we’d have three or four kids, a mix,” she told him, “and we’d take family trips to Spain and Paris because the kids would always nag to go to Disneyland and honestly we’re suckers for Disneyland so we’d indulge them. We’d go to at least four games every season and,” she paused, tilted her head up so she could see his face, “I think you should come by for lunch tomorrow with my parents.”

He grinned widely, pressed a kiss to her jaw, “only if you’re my date at the next company event.”

She kissed him slowly, softly putting every feeling she had into it and then said, “you’ve got yourself a deal, Mr Potter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter as promised!! Next and final chapter will be up in a few days :) :)
> 
> thanks for all the love guys xx


	3. The Devil's In The Detail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a year in the life of James and Lily aka ALL THE FLUFF

He tried to convince her to stay longer in Belbury, after all he had a house to himself and they had a lot of catching up to do but Lily knew her agent, Dorcas Meadowes, would fly to England and drag Lily back to America kicking and screaming if she didn’t show up on time. After all, Lily had work to do and the latest movie she’d been cast to was starting table reads on Wednesday and Lily knew how important the first table reads were. She’d be officially meeting the entire cast.

When James had realised getting her to stay was a losing battle, he drove her to the airport and they had an obligatory airport snog.

“I changed your ringtone for me,” he told her, leaning back slightly.

“Oh?”

“You’ll know it when you hear it,” he assured her and a smile tugged at her lips as she imagined all the possible songs it could be. She kissed him three more times before sighing.

“I have to go.”

“I know. Call me when you land,” he requested.

“I will. This’ll work, won’t it?” she asked, anxiety seeping in. It was weird to be starting their relationship again when they couldn’t even properly be together for another five months and they’d only spent two days together. Two magical days but still…

He grabbed her hand and squeezed tight.

“We’ll make it work,” he assured, pressing a kiss to her forehead and she’d closed her eyes trying to remember this feeling. “Besides, I’m super excited to see what all the fuss about phone sex is.”

She laughed into his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly and he hugged her back just as tightly, one hand cradling her head and she never wanted to leave but final calls for her flight were being announced so she leaned back, kissed him one last time and then turned to walk away.

She didn’t get more than fifty meters when her phone started blaring out ‘Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom’ by the Vengaboys. She turned around to see his grinning face, his phone pressed to his ear.

She answered the call and, “you’re going to give me a lot of explaining to do on set.”

“I think the song is pretty self explanatory.”

They did long distance for five months — which was exactly how long it took her film to wrap. In the meantime, James told his mates that he was dating a woman named Lily who lived in America because no one was going to believe him anyways.

They FaceTimed all the time and always woke up to at least fifteen texts from each other every morning — usually silly puns or thoughts or live commentary of an event of some sort whether that was watching a movie or catching the tube to work or drama. And Lily began to live for these morning texts, so much so that instead of scrolling through social media or emails during her morning tea, she found herself reading his texts and responding to each one.

Lily was officially dubbed ‘lovesick’ on set as she was basically attached to her phone in-between takes but the cast were funny, popping up behind her during FaceTime calls to take the piss. Seeing James’ stunned face that Ryan Reynolds just said ‘hello’ to him never got old. And the cast took the piss out of her and the ringtone for James by playing it at random intervals just to see her face light up — the worst — or funniest — was when they’d played it in the middle of a scene and she played along with the bit, acting like all production had to stop because her lover awaited. She was assured the clip would make it onto the blooper reel.

James surprised her for her birthday weekend, showing up unannounced with the largest bouquet of roses Lily had ever seen and a neatly wrapped gift — a necklace with an emerald stone in it that Lily had worn everyday since. He could only stay the night but it was everything and he got to meet her best friend Marlene, who told him all sorts of embarrassing Lily stories which James responded in kind with _his_ embarrassing Lily stories.

He got to meet her colleagues when she took him on a tour around set — Lily thought his brain stopped working when Ryan shook his hand and said, “nice to meet you, lover boy”.

He inspected the photo wall in her LA cottage and he took unexpected photos of her throughout the trip because, “as much as I love your selfies, I would also like photos of you that you didn’t take yourself.” Lily dittoed that and began taking her own photos of him and selfies of them because it had been a little over a month and they didn’t have a photo together. Lily made her favourite one her lock screen — Lily was pressing a kiss to his jaw as he laughed at the camera, his dimples on full display and his eyes crinkled behind his glasses.

“Is it weird how easy this is?” she asked in the morning, when they’d woken up with their legs tangled, his arm over her waist.

“It’s always been easy with us,” James replied and that was true but was she crazy for thinking ten years should have made a difference? “What’s not going to be easy is leaving.”

She hugged him tighter. “You could stay.”

But they both knew he couldn’t. He had a company to run.

He texted her when he landed in England and then went radio silent as he promptly passed out for twelve hours only to spam her with texts about how terrible jet lag was.

**James:** _sirius is being a right git about it, too._

_He made alexa play beethoven, lily_

_at full volume_

_our alexa is connected to five speakers_

_our neighbours hate us_

_I hate sirius_

_I just want to sleep_

_jesus who’s idea was it to start the work day at 9am_

_I just want to talk_

**Lily:** _*whose_

**James _:_** _all that and you only respond to my typo_

_Your a shit girlfriend evans_

**Lily:** _*you’re_

_And no I’m not_

_If you didn’t have me who’d tell you when adidas were having sales so you could buy your ridiculously expensive shoes_

_Have a good day at work love xx_

Lily got imperceptibly frustrated as every weekend she had tried to get away to return a surprise visit was always thwarted because of work. Either a scene needed to be reshot or her agent sent through a new manuscript to see if Lily would be interested in auditioning or there was an award show or a photoshoot. It was ridiculous. It came to a head when the airport was grounded the day before his birthday and she once again missed her opportunity to go see him.

She’d rung Marlene and cried and raged because it wasn’t fair but she also didn’t want to burden James with her frustrations the day before his birthday. Instead she jumped online and tried to organise something special for him. She had a cake sent to his work at lunchtime, she also roped her mum into helping her organise a proper present — a framed photo of them from the last time he’d visited and his old school football jersey that she had stolen all those years ago — and her mum was kind enough to drive to London the next day and drop it at his flat.

“I can’t believe you still had that jersey,” James mused when she called him, shouting ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ the moment he’d answered.

“It was my favourite thing to sleep in for a year. Of course I still had it.”

“You know, my mates think I sent a cake to myself at work.”

She laughed at his appalled face.

“They all think you’re a phantom of my imagination.”

“The nice thing about no one knowing yet is no paps,” Lily considered. “No articles. No anything.”

It was a blessed reprieve from how her relationships usually tended to go.

“I think I’d rather have you here in London,” James said and he did eventually for a blissful seventy-two hours.

Lily finally managed to fly over in April to surprise him and they spent the two nights secluded in her flat in London because, “you’re only here for three days and I’m not ready to share you yet.” Lily learnt in this brief time that James was an amazing cook and he was super stressed about the office opening in France because it was only three months out and they still hadn’t found the right person to head it. She also learnt that despite this, he’d turned his phone off for the whole seventy-two hours even though she’d told him it was unnecessary.

They attempted to bake brownies together but they both got a bit distracted and burnt them in the oven. Both of them weren’t too regretful. They had a bath in Lily’s massive clawfoot one that James tried to convince her was almost as pretentious as Sirius’ art and they argued as she lay on his chest, both of them sipping away at red wine and it was what Lily held onto for the next six weeks.

In May, James picked her up from the airport with ‘welcome home’ balloons and a huge bouquet of sunflowers and an ‘I love you’ spilling out of his lips as he kissed her and tears spilled out of her eyes because _finally_.

“I love you, too,” she smiled into his lips when she got a breath. She thought she’d fallen back in love with him in one single night in a car parked next to a church.

The car ride to the flat was filled with talking and cheesy grins and laughing— and a pit stop on the side of the road to reacquaint themselves with each other because damn it phone sex just wasn’t as good as the real thing.

“Pads! I’m home! Come say hello!” he shouted, as he let Lily into his flat.

It was stylish, sleek, and modern but clean it was not. The sink had a few dirty glasses sitting next to it, the kitchen counter didn’t gleam the way a kitchen counter should gleam, and the dining table had clearly become a dumping ground for laundry, for bills, for magazines, books, stray pens, and half-finished water bottles. It all piled up on the dining table. At least it wasn’t on the floor.

“Will I be able to see this elusive girlfriend?” Sirius shouted out from somewhere in the flat.

“Come and find out!”

He set her two huge suitcases by the front door as she dumbed her carry-on on the dining table, looking around the spacious flat.

“Sorry it’s not the cleanest,” he apologised. “I contemplated cleaning but honestly, we haven’t seen the surface of that dining table in three years and it felt wrong to change that record. You should be proud that I did clean the living room though. And my room.”

“I see what you mean about his pretentious art,” she commented as she eyed a plain white canvas with nothing more than a few black lines on it.

“My art is not preten— Evans?” Sirius Black was frozen, his jaw hitting the floor as he stared at Lily.

Time had blessed Sirius it had seemed. His hair had the man bun look, which absolutely suited him toa tee, and his eyes were as striking as ever with a few lines around them that gave him a bit more character. He’d stopped looking like a pretty boy and more like a rugged man and it suited him endlessly, though she would never admit that out loud to anyone. The most notable difference was the tattoos that lined his arms. Those had most definitely not been there when she’d seen him last.

“Surprise!” she exclaimed throwing her hands up.

“Er, what? How? Why?” he spluttered. “You’re,” he looked to James, “you’re James’ American Lily?”

She winked. “How many other Lily’s in America did you know?”

“You said she was American!” Sirius accused James.

“I said she _lived_ in America.”

“Jesus, you could have said that it was Evans!”

James smirked, “I could’ve but this was more fun.”

“How did you guys-?” he repeated, seemingly getting over his shock.

“We bumped into each other at Belbury just before Christmas,” Lily supplied.

“Urgh,” he groaned, “Don’t tell me you defiled that poor innocent church again.”

James and Lily rolled their eyes at each other before Lily turned back.

“You know, Black, it has been ten years, how about a ‘nice to see you’?”

“Yeah, yeah, bloody hell,” he muttered before laughing and swooping Lily up in a huge hug. “Nice to see you, Evans.”

“You too, Black.”

And even though Lily did have her own flat in London, she stayed at James and Sirius’ more than her place. James made space in his closet for her clothes and she began wearing the old football jersey to bed every night again. A photo of her looking over her shoulder whilst wearing the jersey, ‘POTTER’ declared between her shoulder blades, became James’ favourite photo of Lily and he framed it, placing it on his bedside table as well as making it his lock screen and her contact photo.

She decorated the flat with comfy throws and cushions. She stocked their kitchen with fancy teas and always made sure everyone’s favourite biscuits and ice creams were on hand. She dressed the kitchen window sill with plants in animal themed pots that Sirius said wrecked the aesthetic of the apartment. James grew attached to the plants though, he gave each of them a name and dramatised when one of the plants were a bit droopy, begging for some water.

The three of them quickly fell into a dynamic — once Sirius got over the shock that Lily Evans was living in his apartment. Sirius and Lily became fast friends again and Sirius talked to her about his business plans and she showed him the sketches for the Gucci campaign she was being considered for. The three of them had movie nights every Tuesday which usually meant they spent an hour every Tuesday arguing about what movie to watch until they came up with a system. The most unexpected thing was that they always fought over hair elastics — Lily’s stash had significantly depleted thanks to Sirius.

Sirius invited Mary one week at Lily’s request and they reconnected as easily as Lily and James had catching up on old gossip and filling each other in on their lives. Mary begged Lily to come to her yoga class every Thursday night and it felt like they’d never stopped being friends. They went for lunches and snuck into the cinemas and Mary told Lily all about her boyfriend. Mary was the same old feisty, funny girl she’d been ten years ago not to mention loyal as hell.

“You have to meet Marlene one day,” Lily told Mary. “You two would be instant best friends.”

“Marlene,” Mary repeated. “As in Marlene McKinnon the world famous supermodel?”

“She’d make us look like midgets but she truly is the best,” Lily assured.

And they did, the next time Marlene had been in London, Lily invited her over for dinner and Lily had been right. Mary and Marlene did get on like a house on fire but so did Sirius and Marlene — that combination worried Lily slightly more.

“This is excellent,” Sirius had announced after Marlene and Mary had left, “I had never considered all the famous people I could potentially shag thanks to you.”

“You will be shagging none of my friends,” Lily decreed.

“You sure about that because Marly slipped me her phone number on the way out.” His cocky grin was enough to have Lily groaning but James had just slipped his arms around her waist as she washed the dishes and kissed her shoulder. He did that a lot. Kissed her on the shoulder. She loved it.

Her friends in America were dying to meet James after Marlene had spilled the gossip about their dinner in the group chat and Lily promised that as soon as he could get time off work they’d come to America for a bit. In the meantime, Lily was happy living a relatively low-key life in London with James and for the first time in a long time, she was stupidly happy.

James often brought work home with him and Lily got busy herself when she was chosen to be the model for the new Gucci campaign. Lily had brought Sirius with her on set because he’d been dying to see the behind the scenes and James framed his favourite shot of Lily when she received the digitals.

With the opening of the office in France, James’ workload was increasing every single day and James sometimes didn’t make it home to well after Lily had gone to bed. But she’d wake every single time he’d slide into bed, her hands searching for him.

“I’m sorry I’m late, love,” he’d kiss her nose or her forehead or her lips or her fingers. “How was your day?”

“Good. Missed you,” she’d mumble. “Yours?”

“Busy. Missed you,” he’d reply, as she’d snuggle into his chest.

When she could, she forced him out of the office for an hour to meet her for lunch or else she’d feel like she never saw him somedays. Even if they did text constantly. Even if James did call her at least twice during the day when he knew he wouldn’t be home at a reasonable time.

James had to go to France for work for two weeks in July and Lily went with him partly because she didn’t have any work anyway and partly because she wanted to make sure James didn’t bury himself in work the entire trip. She bought them tickets to Disneyland and it was the first time photos of them got released. At least they were blurry phone shots as opposed to professional paparazzi shots but still. The world now knew that Lily Evans was dating someone. It took the internet less than six hours to find out as much about Lily’s ‘mystery man’ as possible. To shut everyone up, Lily posted a photo of the two of them wearing matching Mickey and Minnie ears in front of the infamous castle, captioned with a simple red love heart.

She met Remus who was a quiet soul until he wasn’t and Lily and him got on like a house on fire. He became a more regular fixture in their apartment after that and Lily adored seeing the three boys around each other. Their friendship was infectious. Loud laughter, good-natured debates, sly pranks, and plenty of banter to go around. Lily folded into this dynamic so seamlessly that she felt she had known Remus forever.

Lily met Mary’s boyfriend Reginald — Reggie — at Mary’s birthday held at Sirius’ bar in Soho. Mary made it very clear that she only had it there because Remus reserved a table for her free of charge which annoyed Sirius.

“Surely we shouldn’t just be giving away twelve hundred dollar tables?”

But he was sweet really because he made sure security was keeping an eye out so no one was taking sneaky photos. Lily was beyond grateful because when James got some alcohol in him, he was very affectionate and Lily didn’t necessarily want blurry photos of James feeling her up on the internet no matter how much she enjoyed — not to mention encouraged — being felt up by James.

Time not spent with their friends, was spent alone. Lily and James spent their weekends going on mini adventures, often opting to drive out of the city and explore quaint towns to escape the crowds. Or they’d lay in his bed all day binging TV shows — he got so mad when she watched three episodes of _Outlander_ without him. Or they baked cakes and made a general mess of the kitchen. Or, when they were feeling fancy, they ate out at posh restaurants — Lily had fun buying new dresses for those occasions with the sole intent of driving James crazy.

Of course, the occasional photo of them got onto the internet but mostly it was just her and James and whatever they decided to do that day. James had quickly become an expert at distracting Lily when she was upset or frustrated when the paps crashed their dates and despite the imposition, he took to it well — unlike Sirius who had no shame in flipping them off whenever he spotted them.

He often read out headlines with a dramatic voice: “ _Lily Evans and beau James Potter: Her explosive secret”_ and he changed his contact name in her phone to ‘Lily Evans’ Boyfriend’ and it made her smile every single time even if she did worry that one day this would all be too much for him. She’d never be able to give him peace. The peace he had before her.

“I’m Lily Evans’ boyfriend,” he’d say when she tried to bring it up, “what more could I ever want except to maybe one day be your husband?”

She snogged him something awful when he’d said it the first time, only to be rudely interrupted by Sirius just as things were getting more heated.

James had a knack for making her forget she was famous though and it was lovely. She woke up every day next to him and they argued over stupid things like what James should cook for dinner and whether Lily was a blanket hogger — she definitely was — and he always left his towel on the floor and she had overtaken the bathroom with makeup and skincare products and hair products and it was everywhere all the time. She complained that he stayed behind too late at work because he did but his company was his baby and he just had to be there sometimes.

But they also danced to Taylor Swift in the living room and she cleaned his glasses for him because they were always dirty somehow and he pressed kisses to her shoulder just because. He did facemasks with her and she was becoming somewhat decent at playing Fifa with him. Sirius never missed an opportunity to call them nauseating so sometimes they were especially ‘nauseating’ in front of Sirius just to rub it in.

She got good at looking after him because he was the type of person who forgot to eat lunch if he was busy and forgot to make a doctor’s appointment when he was sick. He was also the type to stress about what colour shirt to wear to important client meetings and she got good at talking him down from a complete meltdown. Of course, it was James though so he had a two second rebound time where you wouldn’t even know he’d been on the verge of tears five seconds ago.

Time passed too quickly when you were so incredibly and decidedly happy and Lily found herself rejecting a role that she probably would have taken had James not been in the picture because she hadn’t completely loved the script and she wasn’t ready for this to change yet. And that wasn’t to say she wasn’t working.

She had the Gucci campaign and she had just signed on to be the cover of the British Vogue October issue and that was weeks of meetings to decide on the aesthetic and the fashion pieces and the locations and then there were the test shots and dress fittings and then the actual photoshoot day. James had stared at her for a full minute when she’d come home with bangs because when Vogue asked you to get bangs, you get bangs.

In no time at all it was almost time for her to fly back to America for the premier of her new movie but not before she held up her end of their deal.

On the third anniversary of James’ company, a huge celebratory company party was being held at Sirius’ bar in Soho. She walked in with her arm linked in James’ and Lily finally got to meet all his work friends that he always talked about. They were all star-struck meeting her at first but eventually they all got used to her presence after they realised she really was just a woman who had quite a few embarrassing stories about their boss.

Going long distance — even if it was only for two weeks — was hard after spending an uninterrupted five months together. It helped that she was impossibly busy with talk shows and radio shows and it had sort of become a meme the way her face would soften when interviewers brought up James. You know the type, the relationship goals type. Though Sirius had posted her face on his Insta with the caption ‘when your roommates girlfriend leaves for two weeks and you’re free from perpetually thirdwheeling’.

“The whole world wants to be you,” James told her over the phone and she almost felt embarrassed until James continued, “they all want to be my girlfriend,” and then she just laughed and told him he was ridiculous.

James surprised her by showing up for the New York premier of her movie.

Dressed gorgeously in a tuxedo with a congratulatory bouquet of beautiful pink and white flowers in her doorway, all he had to say was, “you didn’t think I was going to miss this?”

“But how-?”

“Because Dorcas is an absolute legend and I love you.”

Lily had already known that but by god did a huge wave of gratitude just go out to her agent — Lily would have to remember to thank her with some flowers and her favourite bottle of red wine but that would have to wait because James was here. In New York. Standing in her doorway.

She wrapped her arms around him, not caring that she was slightly squashing the flowers between them as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” she laughed pulling back and dragging him inside. “Damn it, you’re going to make me cry and Dottie will be so mad at you if you make me ruin my make-up!”

“You look gorgeous,” he complimented and Lily flushed slightly, realising that James had never seen her all done up for a red carpet in person yet. He’d probably gotten used to bed-hair Lily in the mornings and lounge-wear Lily in the evenings. “I’m not even sure you’re my girlfriend. You’re far too pretty and I’m definitely out of my league.”

“Not from where I’m standing,” Lily commented, as she straightened his bowtie. She was so used to seeing him dressed in jeans, converse, and a t-shirt that seeing him in a tux was doing all sorts of things to her body. Things that would have to wait because her stylist had just finished sewing her into her dress and damn it.

James was a huge success on the red carpet and Lily was positively shining just for him the entire night. When they saw photos from the night, Lily contacted the photographer of her favourite shot to get the professional copy. She had it framed and hung on her frame wall much to James’ delight and then hung up the same photo of them in his place in London, much to Sirius’ annoyance because it wasn’t _art_. Lily just told him to “fuck off” and James seconded it.

They both laughed at all his work mates taking the piss out of him in the work chat for his red carpet appearance. James shamelessly promoted her movie by typing ‘ _take the piss all you want but if you don’t watch her movie the lot of you are fired_ ’ so Angie started a channel specifically titled “Supporting the Boss’ Mrs” and they had a full blown company event dedicated to watching Lily’s movie with Lily as the — very embarrassed — guest of honour.

They celebrated hard at a table in Soho when the glowing reviews came in — the champagne was endless curtesy of Remus and Sirius — and there was talk that Lily would be up for a Golden Globes and Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Lily didn’t expect to win since she had won the previous year but being nominated was a huge compliment and achievement. James surprised her with an overnight trip to St Ives and Sirius was happy to be shot of third wheeling for a weekend.

British Vogue came out in early October and James surprised her — he did that a lot — by having a copy framed with a professional looking caption underneath that read, ‘that’s my baby’. Their coffee table filled up with issues over the next few weeks because James couldn’t resist buying a copy every single time he saw it in a shop.

They were obnoxiously that couple come Halloween and they dressed as Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean and Sirius dressed as Jack Sparrow because of course he did. Mary had dressed up as Lily’s first breakout movie character — Amelia Hart from _The Girl In The Ivy House_ — to everyone’s amusement. They spent the night at Sirius’ bar in Camden which he had closed for the night to the public to throw a big Halloween bash with all their friends. Even some of Lily’s had managed to come — Marlene, Benjy Fenwick, Emma Knightley, and Emmeline Vance.

Lily spamming her Instagram with stories from the night saw Remus and Sirius’ bars get even busier with the hopes that Lily Evans and her boyfriend would be hanging around as they’ve been rumoured to do so on the weekends. Lily lauded this over his head when she wanted to get her way at the flat; forcing him to be the one to get groceries or take-out or when she wanted to hang another photo frame on the wall.

“Don’t you have your own flat to live in?” Sirius grumbled after James and Lily had vetoed his dinner choice for the night.

Lily would have forgotten she had a flat if it weren’t for the quarterly rates and bills she had to pay. She hadn’t stayed there in months and she was sure more of her things were here than there now anyways. She was honestly considering selling it.

“Don’t be sour, Black. I keep you and James clean.”

“It’s barbaric,” he countered.

He had not liked it when he’d come home one afternoon to find the dining table bare of all its clutter with the only thing on it a decorative bowl that Lily had taken to filling with chocolates.

“It’s hygienic,” Lily shot back. “I’m probably saving you from some ill-fated disease.”

“I’d happily take the disease.”

“Die then,” Lily shrugged.

“Living with the two of you is like living with children,” James commented.

“Move out then,” Lily and Sirius both suggested. They high-fived much to James’ chagrin.

They had date nights except they’d kick Sirius out of the apartment and James would cook for her because he was somehow an insanely good cook and they’d have sex all over the flat without fear of Sirius walking in — which had happened too many times for it to even be embarrassing anymore. James often surprised her with supermarket flowers when he came home from work and on days where she didn’t have anything to do, she’d visit him for lunch at the office — it was so common most of the staff didn’t bat an eyelid at her showing up unannounced.

They went to the Lakes for a weekend in November and James indulged her in wanting to visit all the old English country houses on their trip up so what was meant to be five hours in a car, easily took them all day from sunrise until the sun was well and truly down. Though Lily did get a nice shot of them in front of Mr Darcy’s house and she shamelessly captioned it ‘Mr Darcy & Miss Bennett’ to which Sirius had shamelessly commented a bunch of throwing up emojis. Marlene had replied ‘fight me, Black’ because, despite Lily’s reservations, Marlene and Sirius were quite good friends now — though Lily was still unclear if they’d ever shagged. She suspected they had.

Lily and James giggled their way out of a quaint cafe when the waitress had told Lily she looked like an American actress and it was so refreshing to be somewhere where she wasn’t immediately recognised.

“I feel like we’ve known each other our whole lives,” she told him as they lay in bed at the B&B they were staying at.

“We have,” he told her.

“Except the huge ten year gap.”

“Well, we’ll know each other longer than we didn’t,” he promised and it sounded a little bit like the rest of their lives and it was everything. What was ten years compared to a lifetime?

As Christmas approached, James slowed down at work so he was home earlier every night and Lily showed him what she’d been secretly working on.

“It’s a screenplay,” she told him, handing him the manuscript.

“You didn’t tell me you were still writing.” He always used to read the short stories she’d write in high school for fun and she’d even helped the drama teacher write the school play in their final year.

“I haven’t written in years,” she admitted. “But I don’t know, inspiration hit and I kept waiting for it to fade but it didn’t and then it was finished.”

James read it in record time and after his initial praise, he helped her to edit it and by early December she sent it to her agent to see if anyone would be interested in directing it, in producing it. When Dorcas had also praised the script and said she’d send it to some of her contacts, Lily’s anxiety started to drop off.

It was their one year anniversary when they visited her parents for Christmas and James insisted they drive out to their old spot.

“It’s tradition.”

“How can we have a tradition if this is our first anniversary since we’ve been back together?”

“We should make it tradition,” he amended and Lily couldn’t fight that logic.

Like always, they grabbed food on the way though James splurged on a pizza instead of their usual McDonald’s and she figured out why when he brought out dessert. He handed her the chocolate pudding and her jaw dropped. In the very centre sat a gorgeous ring. An engagement ring.

He pulled the ring out of the dessert, carefully cleaning any fudge off the gold band that the lovely rectangular diamond was perched on.

“Lily,” he said and she ripped her gaze from the ring to his eyes. “When we were in love and seventeen and I said we’d grow old together, a lot of people assumed I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about but they were wrong because I knew you, Evans. I knew that you were the love of my life, you have been since I asked you out after you pushed me into the pond and you said yes.”

“You tripped,” Lily managed to protest and he let a smile grace his face at this age old debate they could never agree on before pushing on with what he had prepared to say. And she let him because she knew James and she knew he’d have spent weeks planning and she didn’t want to ruin that. Even if she did just want to scream ‘yes’ already and snog the daylights out of him.

“You’ve showed me colours I can’t see with anyone else, and I am so, so grateful for whatever it was that brought us back together because for ten years I think I’ve been walking around blind and then you came back into my life like a whirlwind and I just knew that when we were in love and seventeen, I was right.

“You’re the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, Lily. I want to make plans with you. Go on cheesy vacations with you. Have kids with you. Build a life with you. Grow old with you. And love you everyday more than I did the day before.”

He let a shaky smile cross his lips as he sucked in a breath. She really didn’t know why he was nervous. Surely he knew she’d say yes. How could she not? She just wanted him to ask already. She was practically bouncing in her seat from the anticipation and it was as though butterflies had been set loose inside of her. Everywhere was just flutters.

“Lily Dorothea Evans, will you marry me?”

“Finally!” She rushed in to kiss him, her hands cupping his face. It was messy and all teeth as they both couldn’t help but smile and tears of joy were brimming her eyes.

“Is that a ‘yes’?” he asked, between kisses.

“A thousand times yes! God, I love you so much! Yes to everything!” She kissed him hard. “Yes to making plans and babies and cheesy vacations.Yes to loving you every single day. Yes, yes, yes!”

He slipped the ring onto her shaky hand as she laughed, her other hand getting lost in his hair.

“I was really hoping you’d say that,” he whispered. “Because I have another surprise for you.”

She didn’t know how he could top this one and she distractedly admired her ring — he must’ve asked Marlene for help because it was exactly her style — as he pulled out a brochure from the side of his door. He handed it to her, opening it up.

“What’s this?” she asked curiously as her eyes skimmed the brochure, trying to comprehend what she was looking at but it was hard when her head was swimming in pure euphoria.

“It was your dream, right?”

The brochure was of a three story townhouse in Chelsea with white accents and a black door with a brass knocker. The brochure told her it had four bedrooms, a grassed garden as well as a terraced balcony and the pictures showed off a newly renovated house, keeping true to the Georgian style architecture.

“You,” she sucked in a breath, “you bought us a house?”

“Sale closed last week. We can move-in in two weeks,” he told her, watching her face carefully. “Do you like it?”

“I — it’s perfect! I, oh my god, I think I’m going to hyperventilate I’m so happy!” She threw her arms around him hugging him so tight she was sure he couldn’t breathe and tears rolled down her cheeks. But she didn’t care because a year ago she had told him about a dream of what their life could be like and he’d remembered and her heart could burst with the love she had for him. “I can’t believe you did all this without me noticing!”

“I had to bribe Sirius for months to keep his mouth shut. It was a nightmare.” He pulled back slightly to look her in the eye, wiped her tears away with his thumbs, “You sure, you liked it? I was a little nervous about the house but I wanted to go big.”

She laughed as more tears started spilling down her eyes. Her sweet, wonderful boyfriend — fiancé — wouldn’t know the meaning of a small gesture if it hit him in the face and that’s her man. Forever and ever and evermore.

“You definitely did just that and I’m so glad you did. I - I’m speechless,” she told him, glancing between the ring and the brochure and she couldn’t even see properly because of the tears in her eyes.

“Are you sure? Because you’re crying and I-”

“Happy tears,” she cut him off. “The happiest tears.”

She kissed him once, twice, three times because she didn’t know how she’d gotten so lucky to have found her one when she was seventeen only to let him go and have him come back to her ten years later. But time worked in curious, mystical, and wondrous ways and it was fine with her because it brought her here.

“I have so much love for you I don’t even know how I hold it all in,” she whispered, her forehead against his, his hand in her hair. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Ditto,” he said, closing his lips over hers again.

She kissed him softly because a year ago on this day, they hadn’t even known it, but they’d planted seeds and over the course of a year they’d taken root and her dreamland was blossoming around her and it was everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think 90% of my TS references were in the last scene alone lol
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading!!!
> 
> Let me know what you think of their ending xx
> 
> P.S it wouldn't be a Taylor Swift AU if there wasn't a 13 somewhere


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